The rope snapped taught around its neck, and the fire along the cord burned into its neck and separated it from its shoulders. Both the head burning from the neck to the top of its head, as the rest of the body burned slowly from the neck down until it was consumed. The vampire on the right also died the same way the first one had, heart and brain and then the rest of its body.

  I froze straining my senses, and then spun around and whipped my wrist forward. The rope circled me in a rising loop and then darted forward, digging into a third vampire’s stomach as soon as it rounded the corner. The vampire was at least seven feet tall, which was why I hit its stomach instead of its chest.

  The cleansing flickering golden flames still did the job, but it didn’t kill the vampire immediately like a heart shot or decapitation would. Its stomach started to disappear in a globe expansion golden flames inside its body, but he reached me before it reached his heart. I ducked the claws going for my throat, but then his bulk slammed into me and sent me into the corridor wall.

  I think I’d already mentioned just how strong even newborn vampires were.

  It knocked the wind out of me and sent a bolt of pain down my spine. I was fairly sure it’d cracked a rib or two. I managed to block a backhand claw attack despite gasping for breath, and that’s all the vampire had time for as the light went out of his eyes. He must’ve been a decent fighter in life, that happened sometimes even in the young.

  I slowly sunk to my ass and leaned against the wall with a hiss of pain. The agony really was bad, and the waves of it were throbbing through my torso. Each and every breath was an exercise in pain management, and any movement was absolutely excruciating. I wasn’t at all new to feeling pain in supernatural fights, but this one was especially bad. He must’ve hurt me worse than I’d first thought.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated, and then activated my second and only other active power. I had one other passive one though, like my speed, but it wasn’t something that would help in battle. There were always my martial arts skills as well which helped to keep me alive. Of course, they didn’t help when I was an arrogant idiot. I’d been so overconfidently sure I was in control and the third vamp would die instantly, but his height and living a few more seconds had taken me entirely off guard.

  So much for being perfect or exercising proper vigilance and awareness in dangerous situations. I’d said it earlier, even hunting baby vamps could be dangerous if I was taken by surprise.

  My body shifted, and I took a deep breath, the pain worse for a split second, like a thousand needles stabbing through my body. Then I was fine. My second power was shape shifting, which came in useful during a spy gig, or to heal just about any damage. I could shift my body back to a healthy state, but it took concentration and focus, also a few seconds. So it wasn’t something I could do during a fight and wouldn’t save me if I was overwhelmed. But as long as I still drew breath, no matter how messed up or hurt after being victorious in a fight, I could restore my health in seconds.

  It was also a very rare power, if not as rare as cleansing flames were. I wasn’t a shifter like a werewolf, werebear, or weretiger, I could literally shift into any living creature that I’d been exposed to. That I’d touched at one point or another. Including a plant, or a tree. Of course, the werekind shifters technically weren’t a race at all, it was lycanthropy and a curse that could affect any race. It was also manageable with effort, and it didn’t necessarily make the infected automatically evil or murderous. Though, even the most iron willed of them tended to have anger management issues.

  But shape shifting wasn’t a curse, and it was far more adaptable.

  I got back up, and I didn’t run into any more vampires on my way to the bridge. Based on my experience in such matters, there were probably sixteen to twenty-six more of them prowling the hallways. Malice usually had twenty to thirty of them turned to make sure there were no survivors, no witnesses, even as she claimed it as her own work. Crazy evil demoness.

  The bridge was pristine, save for the dead bodies of the command crew, I mean. The floors were a hardwood, with off white and pristine walls save a little blood spray here and there. The ceiling had diffuse lightning and all the consoles looked too fancy. I suspected it was so rich looking for the incredibly rich and snooty tourists that could afford the cruise and a deeper tour of the ship and its nerve center.

  I shook my head as I moved to the operations console. Besides recognizing it being trained to operate several different ship types, Claire had also helpfully led me to it with an augmented reality stepping path.

  Fortunately, the life form sensors had just been disabled, and the command override I’d been furnished with brought them right back online. I suspected the pirates had only turned them off in the hopes of forcing others to board before determining the danger. Maximizing chaos and death were always high up on a demon’s ambition.

  The strange part was there were no other life signs on the ship. There was no way Malice had only turned four of the survivors of the raid. Not a chance.

  “Run diagnostics on the sensors, and search through the video archives for an explanation for the lack of baby vamps just in case they are working.”

  Claire said, “In progress.”

  While she did that, I brought the sub-light engines back online, then I headed over to the navigation console. It took me just a minute to set an automated course that would put the ship in orbit close to the military space station. They could send a shuttle over to claim it and dock it. I couldn’t dock it with my ship attached, and the auto-pilot couldn’t dock it all on its own either. So it was the best solution.

  Once that was committed, I walked over the helm console and executed the autopilot on the plotted course. It was impressive, that I didn’t even feel a slight tremor as the main engines fired and sent the ship along its away, even dragging my ship with it.

  On my scout I felt everything that way. The military grade inertial dampers were better in a lot of ways, able to compensate for greater Gs and higher shear at sub-light speed, but they couldn’t be so precisely tuned to make it a completely smooth experience. Of course, everything on a cruise ship would be geared to maximize comfort for the passengers, and the ship shaking every time they activated the engines just wouldn’t do.

  It was so smooth in fact, I felt the need to verify with sensors we were actually moving, and the engines hadn’t failed or something. It’d take almost twenty-four hours for the ship to move in from the FTL line to orbit, a distance my scout could traverse in just a third of the time, eight hours. Point being, I had a full day to wrap things up, and get back in my ship and undock before anyone else would be boarding.

  Claire interjected, “I believe I have the answer to the mystery. The sensors are functioning adequately. I’ll bring up the video on the main screen.”

  “Do it.”

  The first thing I noticed was the smoking hot brunette sitting in the center of the frame. It looked like she was alone, and enjoying a drink or two. She didn’t look nervous at all, when I saw her head snap to the main doors of the room as it opened up.

  That reason for lack of fear was immediately apparent, as she raised her hands and fire flooded the room in waves of burning hot and explosive flames. The room quickly blackened, and the vampires were utterly destroyed in the heat and flames as they streamed in.

  Sorcerers were masters of the elements, and usually favored a single one but could at least do small things in all four. Earth, air, fire, and water.

  She was a very powerful fire sorceress, and vampires were very vulnerable to fire damage. For a minute I had hopes she was still alive, but I should’ve known better. My ships sensors would’ve picked up her body heat on approach. Her end was apparent, as in the noise of the fight she failed to sense the vampire coming up behind her from the bar area, I assumed it used a back door, and it wore a crewman’s uniform.

  I sighed, as it grabbed her and bit into her neck from behind. She managed to send out an explosive blast of fire that tore the thing apart, but it also ripped her throat apart as the fangs were torn through her flesh. She collapsed.

  Claire said, “The sorceress accounted for twenty-six vampires, Damien. She must’ve hidden during the raid, and only came out and went to the bar later.”

  “That makes sense, demons wouldn’t be threatened by fire, they’re immune to it, and she was young enough I doubt any of her other elements were matured enough to have a chance of killing one. Use the codes supplied to copy the video for Killian, and delete the original. Also delete anything past the vampire attacks, make it look like the pirate’s did it.”

  Standard coverup approach, the government wouldn’t want video proof of the supernatural to fall into civilian hands. I was pretty sure the Emerald incident would be chalked off as a terrorist incident.

  Claire said, “Done.”

  I tilted my head, “Did you review all the footage.”

  Claire replied, “Affirmative, cleanup procedure in progress. Miss Meridian also appears to have been the only other supernatural present, save the pirates of course.”

  I nodded, good. Well, I wasn’t going to complain there weren’t more baby vamps to kill.

  Time to head out, and get back to what I was doing, which was a long planned vacation.

  Chapter Two

  “Say that again? I’m sure I didn’t hear it right, Killian. I’m about to go to FTL and enjoy my vacation, which you well know.”

  Sure, I couldn’t afford to turn down an assignment and burn bridges, but I had to make him work for it sometimes, otherwise he’d start walking all over me.

  Killian flashed an apologetic look, “I think you did hear right. I need you to come in. I have another mission for you, and it’s too sensitive to be discussed even over a fully secured quantum connection.”

  Killian was an average looking man in almost every way, which probably meant he’d been a fantastic field agent in his youth. He was about fifty-four now, right around six feet in height, average body type, not too in shape anymore, but not out of shape either. His face neither attractive or unattractive, he was the type that could disappear in a crowd, and people would forget what he looked like as soon as they turned their head.

  “To the main temple,” I asked dubiously.

  I hadn’t been there in years, and Killian hadn’t ever required me to leave my ship to take on a mission before.

  Killian smiled, “That’s where I live and work. You really are the best suited for this mission, and you’ve never let me down before. I won’t lie, there’ll be complications because of your nature, but they’ll be manageable.”

  I sighed, “Alright, I should be there in a little over ten hours. Bane out.”

  Killian nodded and the connection dropped.

  Ten hours instead of just eight, because my scout ship was too small to support a shuttle or even a small hangar. I’d have no choice but to dock with the station and take a commercial shuttle flight down. The Fellowship would pay for the docking fees and shuttle trip, but it was still annoying.

  Of course, the Clarity was capable of atmospheric entry and landing, but the fuel expenditures would cost a hundred times more than a shuttle seat ticket, not to mention renting a landing space, so it wasn’t a good alternative unless it was the only option.

  I didn’t really like crowds, and it’s why I worked alone in such a dangerous field. I didn’t dislike people or anything, but even though they weren’t aware of the supernatural they were still influenced by it in subtle ways. Especially with me, which is why I always went on vacations in other systems, using false names and a wildly different appearance than the one I was born with.

  It was that fourth power I mentioned earlier that wouldn’t help me in a fight. Two active powers and two passive. The first passive was speed, the second one gave me a potent sense of presence in person. The kind that would draw all eyes my way when walking into a room.

  Human men tended to treat me like an armed bomb, a distant and wary respect, and human women were also intimidated at first, but inevitably given enough time and exposure those same women would start throwing themselves at me. Not literally, but you get the idea, they were almost pathetically easy to pick up for a good time.

  It sounds good in theory, and I did have a slut phase in my late teens, but having half the women in a club sending me come fuck me signals could be overwhelming, and honestly it was a bit of a turnoff now that I was older at twenty-six. Like most guys I wanted to pursue, not be lured in as a sure thing. Where was the fun in that?

  My power wouldn’t subvert a faithful woman, or one in a serious relationship, those would likely just enjoy the view, and maybe have a fantasy or two and then rub one out when they got home, but there were young and beautiful single woman everywhere looking for the right partner. Inevitably those all started panting after me. It could get… awkward for me.

  The really complicated part of course, was not all women in a relationship were faithful, and that had caused trouble for me in the past. No man wants to see his woman making come fuck me eyes at a stranger in a restaurant, for instance.

  The supernatural races weren’t as powerfully affected by my aura, but it still had an influence even there with enough time.

  As a result, and sadly enough, I’d never really fallen for a woman. It was just too easy for me to get laid, and inevitably they turned into stalkers, which was part of the reason I worked and lived in space, alone. I only took vacations when I started to get stir crazy, and of course to… relieve a little stress. I wasn’t a monk, and even now there was shallow appeal in sharing a hot torrid night or two with the hottest single available women in a room I spent some time in.

  I’d decided years ago it would never happen for me, women were only ever obsessed with me, none could truly love me with my passive magic power, so how could I ever love them or even have a real relationship?

  Still, as long as exposure was minimized to less than an hour, it shouldn’t be a problem. After two hours, the attempted distant seduction would either fade with annoyance, or the women would get super aggressive, which I avoided at all costs.

  The power wasn’t actually all that uncommon as some would think, like my two active powers were. Everyone knew that guy that seemed to easily attract women to them. Half demon children of succubae and incubi also had a potent draw on the opposite sex, but the church had verified long ago I had no demon blood in me at all, and couldn’t explain where my ability came from, one which I couldn’t turn off, turn down, or otherwise effect. No more than I could not be potentially fast.

  That was really it, Cleansing Fire, Shape Shifting, Speed, and an intimidating and mesmerizing over time allure to women. As far as my powers anyway, I’d like to think I was a highly skilled agent and operator besides.

  “Claire, take us in, wake me when we’re fifteen minutes from Penitent Station.”

  Might as well get some shuteye, I had a bad feeling I was going to need all my patience intact when I got there.

  The ship vibrated slightly as the attitude thrusters flipped her back to facing the planet, and the thrusters fired sending a brief shake through the structure of the ship.

  Claire said, “Confirmed, course to penitent station laid in and implemented. Good night, Damien.”

  “Night Claire,” I shook my head as I left the bridge and went to my quarters. I wasn’t like she’d feel unappreciated if I didn’t return her social niceties, but I did it anyway.

  The main temple was part of a huge government complex, and it was where the seat of the Archbishop that ruled the church and the Duchess that ruled the planet, both in the prelate’s name, who was thankfully not here on Brione. The prelate lived and ruled out of New Patience. Anyway, the large temple was also where Cardinal Killian worked and lived.

  It was a true behemoth of a building, and there was a large high speed railway hub right across the street, that enabled hundreds of thousands of people a day to enter and leave from all over the mega-city of over a hundred and twenty million people.

  My augmented reality implant access codes let me walk right past the guards and into the secure area of the temple. Not just because I was an agent, but technically I lived there too, as a ward of the church, and my room was still assigned to me. I just hadn’t spent a night there in over eight years since my second passive power had turned on at eighteen.

  There’d been a whole thing with the young female acolytes, but the shameful orgy had been covered up and I’d been brought to task. Luckily found not guilty, since it was determined I had no control over my power. It wasn’t great, but it was sort of a fond memory as well, the night I lost my virginity and was taught how to fuck by about fourteen women of various experience and beauty at the same time.

  Needless to say, they didn’t kick me out, but they did jump on the chance to support my ambition to hunt the evil that preyed on our society. Got me into training for it and even helped me purchase the Clarity, a debt which was fully paid off over time.

  I shook the thoughts of the past out of my head as I arrived outside of Cardinal Killian’s office, and I knocked firmly on the open door.

  Killian smiled and waved me in, “It’s been too long, Damien. Come in and take a seat.”

  Killian no doubt felt my power as well, but he had some immunity to it merely by knowing it existed.

  I moved inside and sat down.

  Killian’s office was tastefully decorated if a bit on the austere side. With his award and decorations behind him and the desk on the far wall from the entrance. There was also two guest chairs, a small conference table for when he had more than one guest to speak to, and a modest bookshelf against the left-hand wall. The right-hand wall had a large window overlooking one of the temple’s gardens.

  “Killian, it is good to see you, but what’s so important it can’t be spoken of on a secured communication?”

  Killian grimaced, “Umm, Duchess Fiona wants to go on vacation, off planet.”